Afternoon Blaze Engulfs Property in Kikuyu, Cause Unknown

Property of unknown value has been gutted down by a fire outbreak at Kikuyu town near a footbridge along the Southern Bypass in Nairobi.

The fire broke out Friday afternoon and was still raging by the time of publishing this article.

The cause of the fire is yet to be established, even as residents accused fire and emergency responders of taking too long to respond to the incident despite them reaching out to them.

In a live feed of the fire on TikTok, a witness can be heard telling CNN journalist Larry Madowo that it took emergency responders 40 minutes to arrive at the scene.

The witnesses at the scene also wondered why it took so long for the responders to arrive, despite the Kiambu County Fire Station for the area being located less than 1 km away from the scene.

Videos seen by Kenyans.co.ke, depicted huge balls of fire and smoke billowing in the air, residents in a rush to salvage their property, among them gas cylinders, and nearby businesses, including a mattress shop and a butchery.

By the time the firefighters arrived, the scene had already been reduced to ashes, leaving little to salvage.  

Residents joined the fire brigade in extinguishing the remaining flames, working together to prevent the fire from spreading further.  

Traffic on the service lane of the bypass was also brought to a standstill with curious onlookers thronging the scene to get a glimpse of how first responders were containing the fire.

Additionally, authorities had not yet commented on the incident at the time of publishing, though no injuries were reported.

The incident borders a similar one witnessed at the Kenya Society for the Protection & Care of Animals (KSPCA) centre in Nairobi where a fire broke out on Friday morning at around 3 am.

However, responders from the county government managed to arrive on time and managed to contain the inferno in time.

A similar incident was recorded some days ago when a mysterious fire destroyed property of unknown value at the Modern Furniture Pacific shop in Ruiru, Kiambu County.